Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Tattoos...

I've been contemplating getting a "family tattoo" which would contain sort-of oblique references to the four of us by way of the elemental zodiac. I'm a Water symbol (Pisces), Jamie is Earth (Taurus), Milo is Fire (duh...and he's a Saggitarius), and Zel is Air (Aquarius).

I don't know much about tattoos. Other than that they look cool but hurt to get.

So now I've got this design, but I don't know how hard it would be to use this image. If you remove all the background astrological "noise" and just incorporate the sun, symbols and primary text, I like it.

But would it be a bear to get? If I use Black and Greys and possibly the standard elemental colors for each symbol (Blue for water, Green for earth, Red for fire and Yellow for air)...? Erp?

12 comments:

radishly said...

Hm. I like it. But I wonder if it would translate to in-flesh art very well... There's a lot of white space, and it might be kind of stark looking. Maybe someone could draw it on you and you could test it out for a while?

How cool that you've got all four elements represented!!! I'd want a tat like that too!

Get it, a tat too? hahahahahahahahaha

Hedy said...

Depends on where you want it. I would go with a fleshier area, not something too close to bone to start out with. That one doesn't look like it would take forever to do, but with the tattoo that I have on my calf, the very bottom of it hurt a lot more than the top, because it was close to a nervy/sinewy area. The top part of it didn't seem to hurt all that bad though.

Hedy said...

Yeah, our living room coffee table is VERY similar to this idea. We have our chinese Zodiac symbols and their corresponding elements as well. Wood Tiger, for 1974; Fire Dragon, for 1976; Water horse, for 2002; and Fire Dog, for 2006. My sister in law did the design by burning the pattern into the wood, then staining it different colours.

Love that table!

-H

Karen Compton said...

Are you thinking just the triangle symbols? Or also the inner circle bits? The triangles would translate well to a tattoo, but I'm not sure about the circles. I HIGHLY suggest finding an artist (tattoo artist) you like and working with them to come up with something that will work well in ink & flesh. That's what I did with my JustWrite tattoo, and it worked well.

Also, this makes me realize we've got three of the four elements! We just need some FIRE ;-)

Rebekah said...

Dang! ~I~ want a table like that!

Rebekah said...

I'm thinking everything (including the zodiac circle and inner mysterious Latin), but not all those elipticals and numerology in the background.

Unknown said...

Take it to an artist you like and they will tell you what can be done. Do you have an artist you like/trust? If you want a background tell them and they will draw something up...... my large tattoos have been a collaborative process wherein I took in art or some sort of inspiration he drew up something, I looked at it and gave my critique, and then he drew something up based on that.... So, I guess what I am trying to say is to take it to the artist you love and see what can be done. And the pain of the tattoo all depends on the area and how much pain you can handle... I am like a ox yet I can only take it (no matter where) for like 3 hours 3 1/2 tops. I am such a wuss!

Joi

Lee said...

Wow, Joi, I can't imagine sitting there and having that for 3-3.5 hours! I think the longest mine has taken was 45 minutes, lol! The pain isn't that bad, and you can take breaks.

Leah Perlingieri said...

yes, to everything Joi said....every artist has a different styles and strengths, too.(ie black and grey, color, japanese...) going to a shop with no flash art on the walls and just GREAT portfolio is best. you can give them guidelines/ideas, but the more freedom you give them, usually the better it turns out--b/c they are artists! so it will look dope and they also want it to have the meaning that you want in it too. sometimes it helps to watch a few episodes of LA Ink if you aren't familiar with this tattoo-artist/client process...don't laugh! seriously.

i also can sit for MAX 4 hours (arm), but more comfortably three (ass). once your adrenaline gets kicking, it provides some pain releif...mostly its just a very annoying, slightly burning sensation, in my opinion.

there are lots of great artist in pdx...our fave is James Kern at No Hope No Fear on Division. he's booked out for months but insanely great.

Unknown said...

Oh and for the record I see MOD at Tigerlily where they draw everything.

Bill & Savannah said...

I think it could look really cool if done right! No advice otherwise, I am tat-free. (cause I am shifty and can't imagine liking something that long)

Panjo Kids said...

I agree- take it to a tattoo artist that you like, and do it well before you actually start getting the ink. 15 years ago I brought an 8 1/2 by 11 beautiful drawing of a mermaid in to a tattoo studio and said, "I want this, but I want to be able to cover it up with a bathing suit." We're talking seriously small. The artist made a small sketch (like only a little bigger than a quarter) and I went with it because I was so nervous and afraid to say no (hey, there were bats hanging from the ceiling...). I wish I had waited longer and decided to go bigger. Now it's all blurry and you can barely even tell what it it. I might have to get it covered up sometime!

3 years ago Ron and I took our tattoo drawings to another artist that we knew and he drew sketches for us. This time we studied them. Mine was terrible- not at all what I wanted. Rons was spot on. We both ended up waiting, but I wasn't going to get stuck with a tat that I didn't like again!